NZEI Mourns the Loss of Dame Marie Clay

Media Release
From NZEI Te Riu Roa
Monday April 16, 2007
For Immediate Use

NZEI Mourns the Loss of Dame Marie Clay

The country's largest education union, the New Zealand Educational Institute, mourns the loss of Dame Marie Clay, a world renowned reading expert.

Dame Marie passed away in Auckland on Friday, April 13, aged 81.

"Educationalists the world over will be saddened by the loss of Dame Marie," says Irene Cooper, NZEI Te Riu Roa National President. "Her outstanding educational leadership in the area of reading meant that children the world over had access to programmes which could support their literacy needs."

Dame Marie was made an Honorary Fellow of NZEI Te Riu Roa in 1976 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to education.

"In Aotearoa/New Zealand her work was the foundation of the highly acclaimed Reading Recovery Programme, that teachers and schools continue to utilise on a daily basis," says Irene Cooper.

The Reading Recovery Programme was introduced in primary schools throughout New Zealand in 1983, targeting six year old children who have reading difficulties. It provides intensive instruction to accelerate their learning and raise it to the level of their fellow students.

"It was outstanding work such as this that has helped Aotearoa/New Zealand to maintain its top three status in international assessments of literacy," says Irene Cooper.

Irene Cooper says the rigourous professional learning, which reading recovery teachers undertake, has fostered a personalised approach to the teaching of reading in classrooms which is the hallmark of quality primary teaching practice.

"Not only was Dame Marie a highly skilled thinker, but she was always accessible to the teaching profession to spread her ideas and engage in dialogue about literacy,"says Irene Cooper. "She will be sadly missed, but her work remains as her memorial."

ENDS